David E. Kuhl, M’55, GM’59, a former University of Pennsylvania faculty member for nearly 20 years, died on May 28. He was 87.

Dr. Kuhl was an internationally-known pioneer in positron emission tomography.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and then a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also completed his residency. He joined Penn’s faculty in 1958 as assistant instructor and resident of medical radiology. He became a professor of radiology in 1970.

In 1976, he left to join the University of California Los Angeles, where he remained until 1986 when he became chief of the division of nuclear medicine at University of Michigan, a position he held for 25 years until his retirement in 2011.

Dr. Kuhl developed a new method of tomographic imaging, as well as several tomographic instruments, early in his career. His techniques were eventually developed into today’s positron emission tomography. His research focused on the use of radioactive tracers and emission reconstruction tomography to develop new measures of neurochemical and metabolic processes within the living brain. The techniques he developed enabled the creation of drugs targeted to the earliest stages of degenerative brain disease.

Dr. Kuhl was a founding member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

His is survived by his wife, Eleanor, his son David (Diane) and his grandchildren, Katherine and Jennifer.